


It's Been Too Long

by Kaza999



Series: Clear Skies [3]
Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: i can't remember, is it alice or alison?, non magical stephanie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-21
Updated: 2013-07-21
Packaged: 2017-12-20 22:37:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/892712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaza999/pseuds/Kaza999
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephanie hasn't spoken to her parents in over a year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Been Too Long

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place right about when Death Bringer would have. Yes, I know that a minor going this long without someone finding her is far-fetched, especially considering that Melissa and Desmond would be actively looking for her, so please suspend your disbelief that far for this one. 
> 
> The magic might feel a bit out of place here, because I've written so little about it. However, since this is from Stephanie's point of view, _she_ actually knows very little about magic. She knows no mages apart from Fletcher. I'll get to Skulduggery's end of things sometime, but again, taking Valkyrie out of the equation alters the timeline radically and it's hard for me to figure out what does and does not happen.

“I'm thinking about calling my parents,” Stephanie said. She was lying back on Fletcher's bed, looking up at the ceiling, her expression pensive. Fletcher sat next to her and was just in the process of taking his shoes off. 

Fletcher turned his head and stared at her. “What? Why?”

She shrugged and folded her hands across her stomach. “I haven't talked to them since I left. Maybe they'd like to know that I'm still okay.”

“I don't know...” Fletcher looked worried. He finished unlacing his shoes, his brow furrowed “I don't think that would be a good idea.”

“Just because you hate _your_ dad doesn't mean I hate _my_ parents.”

Fletcher frowned at her. “That's not what I meant. I just meant that if you don't want them to find you, you shouldn't call.”

“If you let anyone get close to finding us I will kill you. You can teleport, what are you worried about?”

He chuckled a little at that. “That's true.”

“I guess I just want to check up on them. See how they're doing.”

“Well...” Fletcher lay down next to her and propped his head on his hand. “I guess if you found a payphone or something far away, maybe then if they came looking, they wouldn't be able to find you, and we wouldn't have to relocate somewhere in a hurry.”

“Yeah. It's not like you'd mind going anywhere, though.” she pointed out. 

Fletcher sighed. “Do you really want to talk to them?”

Stephanie considered the question. “I guess so.”

Fletcher knew that was the best 'yes' he was going to get. Stephanie very rarely gave obvious affirmatives. “Well, if you do, remind me tomorrow and I'll think of somewhere miles away to phone from, alright?”

She looked over and gave him a tiny smile. “Right. I'll do that.”

… … …

It was already noon when Stephanie and Fletcher woke up. It usually was. Stephanie didn't have school or work to get up for and she intended to take full advantage of that fact as long as she could. She stretched and rolled off the bed. Fletcher mumbled something sleepily that Stephanie didn't catch.

“What?”

“Do you still want to call your parents?” Fletcher repeated.

She thought about it. “Yeah, I suppose.”

Fletcher laboriously got out of bed. “Give me a chance to shower and then we can go.”

“Alright.” Stephanie got on her clothes while he was showering, and then, remembering he took easily twenty minutes to style his hair, started to read the paperback that she'd snatched from a bookstore the other day. 

When he was finally done, she shrugged her ratty winter coat on. She was entirely able to get herself a new coat, but she liked this one. When he was finished lacing up his shoes, she held out her hand and tapped one foot impatiently.

He took a hold of her hand, and they were away. 

When they landed, Stephanie looked around—she didn't recognize the area. There was a payphone a few yards away. “Where are we?” she asked Fletcher. She didn't need to recover from the teleport. They'd done it so many times that she'd just gotten used to the sensation. 

“London.” He shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “I figured it'd be far enough away to throw them off if they wanted to come looking for you.”

Stephanie nodded. She lay a hand on his arm, gently for once. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Just call, alright?” he looked unusually uncomfortable.

“Sure thing.”

She made for the payphone, and he followed close behind. She picked up the phone, and was unnerved when it took her a minute to remember her home phone number. She did in the end, and dialed. The phone rang for so long that Stephanie worried that no one would pick up. Finally, someone answered. 

“Hello?”

Stephanie gave a sigh of relief. That was her mother's voice. That was Melissa. 

“Hello? Is someone there?”

Stephanie's mouth was dry. “Hi, Mum.” she said quietly. 

There was a long silence on the other end. “...Stephanie?”

“Yeah. It's me.”

“Oh my god, _Stephanie_! Where are you? Are you all right? What happened?”

“I'm fine,” she said, furrowing her brow. “Why?”

Her mother let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “Well, you would think I would want to know how you were, what with you being _missing_ for a year and a half!”

Had it really been that long? She must have lost track at some point. She didn't think it had been, though. “I'm fine. I promise.”

“Where are you? Where did you go?”

“I'm—I'm okay. I'm somewhere safe.” she was, too. Fletcher would never take either of them somewhere where he might have to risk his neck. 

“Stephanie, we thought you were _dead_ , we thought—I thought something terrible had happened, you got mixed up in something bad, I don't know—“

“No, nothing like that. Trust me, I'm okay.”

“Then tell me where you are, and we can come and find you. _Please_ , Stephanie.”

Stephanie clenched her free hand into a fist. “No. No, I'm not going to do that, Mum.”

Fletcher looked at her, concerned, and she shook her head at him. No need for him to get involved with all of this. 

“Is Dad there?” she asked.

“No, he's at work. It's Wednesday.”

Stephanie chuckled. She'd forgotten. “Oh. Right.”

“Stephanie, come home, _please_.”

“No, Mum. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I was just calling to see if you were doing alright.”

“ _Us?_ Stephanie, you're god knows where and you're worrying about us?”

“Yes.”

Melissa laughed again. “Well, we're fine too. Better, now that I know you're not _dead_.”

Stephanie did not reply to that.

Melissa hesitated before saying “And...you have a little sister.”

Stephanie almost dropped the phone. “...what?”

“A sister, Stephanie. You have one now.”

“Oh.” Stephanie wasn't quite sure what to think about that. When she had left she hadn't even known that her mother was pregnant. She supposed that was just news they never got a chance to tell her. “That's good, Mum. I—what's her name?”

“Alison.”

“Alison,” Stephanie breathed. “I'd love to meet her, Mum.”

“Does that mean you're going to come home now?”

Stephanie bit her lip. She wanted to see this new little sister. She really did. “No, Mum. I'm sorry.” before Melissa could get a word in edgewise, Stephanie hung up the phone. “Can we go, Fletcher?”

He took a hold of her elbow. “Sure. No problem.”

And then they were gone.


End file.
